St. Theobald was the son of Count Arnoul of Champagne and raised to be a soldier, but at age 18, filled with a desire for greater perfection as a result of reading the lives of the saints, he decided that he wanted to lead an ascetic life. He left the military, with his father's permission, and after a time at St. Remy Abbey in Rheims, he and another nobleman named Walter became hermits at Suxy, Ardennes. In 1135, they moved to Pettingen Forest in Luxembourg, where they worked as masons and field hands during the day to earn their keep and spent the night in prayer.

In search of greater solitude, they went on pilgrimage to Compostella and Rome and then resumed their eremitical life at Salanigo near Vicenza, Italy. Walter died two years later.

Theobald's sanctity attracted many disciples, and he was ordained and became a Camaldolese. His fame spread and reached his parents, who came to visit him. His mother became a hermitess nearby (Benedictines, Delaney).